I am Roy Christopher. I be thinking about stuff.
Sometimes I write about it.

My Books

I contributed several entries to the St. James Encyclopedia of Hip-Hop Culture (St. James, Press, 2018), including ones on Gangsta Rap, Horrorcore, Rap Metal, and the hip-hop scene in my beloved Pacific Northwest. This massive, 500-page encyclopedia covers all aspects of hip-hop culture and is essential for libraries, institutions, and researchers alike.

The editors of The Routledge Companion to Remix Studies describe my chapter ("The End of an Aura: Nostalgia, Memory, and the Haunting of Hip-hop") like this: "Christopher’s text by and large comprises a series of quotes by divergent authors, ranging from cyberpunk to hip-hop, which take the shape of an intertextual collage that turns into a case study of authenticity in the time of constant digital reproduction."

My first book, Follow for Now: Interviews with Friends and Heroes, is an anthology of interviews with all kinds of minds. Disinformation named it "among the most important books published in 2007," and Erik Davis called it "a crisp and substantial remix of the major memes of the last decade or so."

My favorite actors tend to be those just outside the spotlight. I like character actors and supporting roles. Nicky Katt, Max Perlich, Kevin Corrigan, Steven Weber, Bradley Whitford, Don McManus, and Daryl Mitchell are some of my favorites.

A little further afield, I’m always paying attention to the background. I love Norman Brenner, who was Michael Richards’ stand-in on all nine seasons Seinfeld, and popped up on camera as an extra in 29 episodes. Ruthie Cohen, who aside from the the four main characters, was in more episodes of that show than anyone (101). How about that long-haired guy in the background damn near every scene of 30 Rock? Those are the real heroes.

My absolute favorite is Bob Stephenson. He was the priest-cum-football coach in Lady Bird (2017). You might recognize him as the airport security guy in Fight Club (1999), but he’s been in many other movies and shows you’ve probably seen: Felicity, Judging Amy, Without a Trace, Ally McBeal, In addition to Fight Club, he was also in David Fincher’s Se7en (1995), The Game (1997), and Zodiac (2007). He was in both incarnations of Twin Peaks (1991/2017). He’s been on the current number-one comedy (Big Bang Theory) and number-one drama (NCIS) in the country. And he was Ted the pilot in the greatest movie of all time, Con Air (1997).

Bob also has a deep punk-rock background, but we just talked about filmmaking.

Roy Christopher:How did you get started acting?

Bob Stephenson: I was a production assistant. I did that for about four and a half years. It was really my film school. I always knew I wanted to act, but I didn’t want to wait tables. I wanted to be in the thick of it – learn by experience.

RC:I have often aspired to act in many small roles. I always thought it would be great to have a résumé that read “Guy in Coffee Shop,” “Second Cop,” “Man #3,” and so on [I was a Papal Emissary on 2 episodes of The Exorcist on Fox and a Bike Messanger in a scene that was cut from an episode of Empire​, so it’s coming slowly]. While your career has definitely surpassed that, do you want the Big Leading Roles?

BS: Heck yes! Of course I do. I would love that. I write quite a bit so I often write roles for myself that I’d love to play.

Bob in Fight Club (1999): “Nine times out of ten it’s an electric razor, but every once in a while… “

RC:Prior to your Father Walther character in Lady Bird, my favorite of your performances was in Fight Club. Both of those roles really display your keen sense of comedic timing and delivery. Do you feel a leaning either toward comedy or drama?

BS: Comedy for sure. But I like it all.

Bob in Twin Peaks (1990/2017).

RC:You’ve worked with the best directors doing it, or at least the best Davids (e.g., David Fincher and David Lynch). Is there someone else you’d most like to work with?

BS: John C Reilly.

RC:You’ve also written and produced projects yourself. Do you aspire to exact a vision from behind the scenes over being in the scenes?

BS: Like I said, I write. I love writing and producing. Think I’ll leave the directing to someone else (though it would be fun to do that as well).

RC:What’s coming up next?

BS: About to pitch a TV pilot to studios. Writing another one as we speak. Both comedies.

Further Posting:

My main interests are figurative language use and the social impacts of technology. My main goal as a writer is to entertain and as a scientist is to find novelty. I’m more of the former than the latter and more of a fan than a critic.

I'm currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at The University of Illinois at Chicago and a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Loyola University Chicago. I hold a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in Communication from San Diego State University. I'm also working on several books. This site is where I think aloud about all of the above. Read on »